The present disclosure relates generally to computing systems, and more specifically, to a base protocol layer testing device for use in a computing system.
In order to improve product quality for computing systems, extensive testing is required. A computing system or network may be made up of many different elements, and the interactions between those elements contribute to the overall quality of the computing system. The various elements of a computing system may communicate with one another via a multi-layer protocol. For example, network communication may be based on the seven-layer Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, which defines the functions of various protocol layers while not specifying the layer protocols themselves. The seven layers of the OSI model, sometimes referred to as Layer 7 through Layer 1, respectively, are the application, presentation, session, transport, network, data link, and physical layers.
An important computing system quality factor is interactions with the base protocol layers of the product (e.g., layers 1-3 of the OSI model). If there are problems in the base protocol layers of a computing system product, then the overall reliability of the product suffers. However, issues regarding the base protocol layers may be difficult to isolate and identify because such problems may be transient in nature and specific to the particular devices and network setup that is being tested. In order to account for these unique attributes, specialized testing tools such as traffic generators and jammers may be used in order to product, isolate, and identify base protocol layer problems. Such tools may be effective for identifying some protocol problems, but may not be suited for all protocol testing scenarios.